Late Rally Falls Short in 65-57 Loss at Robert Morris

Feb 25, 2011

Moon Township, Pa. (February 24, 2011)-Robert
Morris held off Mount St. Mary's, 65-57, in Northeast Conference
action on Thursday night. Junior guard Lamar Trice scored a career
high 24 points for the Mountaineers in the loss.

The Mount (10-20, 8-9 NEC) trailed 39-38 with 11:30 left after a
Julian Norfleet bucket, but Robert Morris (15-13, 11-6 NEC) scored
the next 10 points to take a 49-38 lead with 8:38 on the clock.
Russell Johnson and Gary Wallace capped the run with back-to-back
three-pointers.

Trailing 53-42 with 6:15 on the clock, the Mount staged a
rally. Trice nailed a three-pointer and then set up Raven Barber
for an alley-oop dunk that resulted in an old-fashioned three-point
play with 4:46 left. Trice then hit 1-of-2 at the line to make it
a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 53-49. Anthony Myers hit a
three-pointer for Robert Morris on the other end, but Trice
connected for his fifth three-pointer of the game to cut the lead
to 56-52 with 3:16 on the clock.

Trice then hit 1-of-2 at the line to cut the deficit to 56-53
with 2:42 left, but Wallace countered with a clutch jumper to
stretch the margin to five. On the next possession, Trice missed a
three-pointer from the top of the key and the Colonials were able
to hold on for the victory from there.

Trice finished 7-for-20 from the field and was 5-for-12 from
three-point range in the game. He added four assists and four
rebounds in the loss. Norfleet added nine points with Barber and
Danny Thompson chipping in seven points each in the loss.

Robert Morris was led by Velton Jones, who had 12 points and
four assists in the game. Johnson and Lijah Thompson added 10
points each for the Colonials in the win.

With the loss, the Mount falls into seventh place in the
Northeast Conference standings with one game remaining. The
Mountaineers can finish anywhere from sixth to eighth in the
standings.

Mount St. Mary's shot 34.6 percent in the game while Robert
Morris converted 43.4 percent of its shots. Each team had 13
turnovers in the contest.

The Mount grabbed an early 10-4 lead in the opening minutes.
Norfleet and Trice each hit three-pointers during the streak. The
Mount continued to hold the advantage when Norfleet hit a jumper to
make the score 16-11 with 9:47 left in the half.

The Colonials responded with a 14-0 spurt to take its biggest
lead of the half, 25-16, on an Anthony Myers three-pointer with
5:34 on the clock. Mount St. Mary's, however, closed the half with
an 11-4 streak to cut the deficit to 29-27 at the break. Trice
paced the Mount in the run with eight points, including a pair of
three-pointers.

Trice paced the Mount with 11 first-half points while Jones had
10 points for the Colonials. The Mount shot 39.1 percent in the
half while committing nine turnovers. Robert Morris shot 43.3
percent and had seven first-half miscues.

The Mount closes out the regular season on Saturday, February
26, at Saint Francis (Pa.). Tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m.